Between Siblings and Stifling
by Chicken Yuki
Summary: Mineral Town Siblings Rick and Popuri go through another argument. But this time, Farmer Mitchel Blaze happens to stop by and catch the commotion, which awakens a childhood memory. With Popuri still frustrated, Mitchel decides to tell her the story.


_Disclaimer: Get this through your head- I will NEVER own Natsume Or the Harvest Moon property. Understand? Good. This is getting redundant…_

**Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town**

**Between Siblings and Stifling**

_"I told you before, and I'll say it again: you're just too childish to be helpful!"_

_"Ohhhhh…. RICK, YOU BIG JERK YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING AT ALL!!!"_

As usual in the Pullet Residence, a.k.a the Poultry Farm, two loud voices rang far and clear due to usual sibling arguing.

At the moment, a childish young lady with long, fluffy pink hair marched downstairs in a huff. She wore a long shirt with puffy short sleeves with a black corset and flowing dress. She also wore a solid white headband atop her head of pink fluff.

"That Rick! Why does he always blow his top whenever I want to do something? I just wanna help, and then he just starts yelling at me and calling me a child! When will he ever lay off that, anyway?" she huffed.

Suddenly, a young man barged into the front door brimming with excitement. He had messy short black hair and lively blue eyes. He wore a long-sleeved light blue jean jacket over a plain white t-shirt, and a pair of light jean pants.

"Hello again, comrades! I've come to restock my bird feed, so--- huh?"

The young man noticed that no one was at the counter.

"Oh, guess I arrived to early. Okay, maybe I should just visit the Supermarket and come back later." He said aloud.

He was just about to leave when the pink-haired girl came into view, looking very frustrated.

"Hm, Popuri?" he uttered curiously.

The young man's voice caught the girl's attention. She turned her head quickly to meet him.

"Mitchel?" the pink-haired girl called Popuri replied.

The girl's expression changed from anger to melancholy. Step by step, she approached the curious young man she called Mitchel slowly until she threw herself at him bawling and complaining incoherently.

Mitchel's eyes began to twitch.

"Oh, crap… I'm not too good at handling my pink-haired friend like this! Hell, I've never been to good handling ANYONE bawling! Well, at least I know what might be causing this." He thought to himself.

"Er… is Comrade Rick bothering you again?" Mitchel guessed.

The black-haired young man saw Popuri nod vigorously and felt the mention brush against his body.

"…Alright, you guys tend to argue over a lot of obscure things, maybe I should---"

"HE'S JUST BEING A BIG, DUMB JERK!" Popuri complained in a more comprehendible voice. "HE ALWAYS BOTHERS ME WHEN I WANT TO HAVE FUN, AND HE NEVER LETS ME HELP OUT WITH THE WORK AROUND HERE! WHY DOES HE ALWAYS HAVE TO TREAT ME LIKE SOME USELESS, UNDESERVING PEST, ANYWAY? HE'S BEING A BIG STUPID DICTATOR OF A BIG BROTHER!!!"

Mitchel gulped. Somehow, in the midst of her loud voice, something struck a chord in the guy.

"Oh. Interesting that you say that, actually. I've had a few sibling troubles of my own, but I guess I got over it for the most part." Mitchel answered.

The teary-eyed girl looked up hopefully at Mitchel for a moment, then immediately switched to a dubious gaze.

"But, everyone's seen you work and said how responsible you are. You don't have a big brother looming over you and telling you not to do! People actually trust you…" she replied in a saddened tone.

"First off, I still don't trust myself with my work. I still worry half the time that I might loose my pail while watering, or misplace my rucksack while I'm running around town. Secondly, I actually have a big brother, but he rarely ever yelled at me for trivial reasons. Anyway, the point I'm getting at is that you're looking at a fellow little sibling who instills just as much doubt and fear in the mind of his family as you do with yours. And while you dealt with the Prison Warden that is Comrade Rick, I had to deal with my unstable mess of a bigger sister I know as Gina."

Popuri wiped away a tear as she sniffled. "But… wouldn't that make you symphonize better with Stu?" she asked.

"No." Mitchel answered immediately. "Stu always pranked Elli and used bugs as a means to scare the crap out of her. On the other hand, I don't recall acting out in such ways to justify Gina venting her angst at me on a given whim. Hard to believe, but this was during my "goodie-goodie" phase." He explained.

"Come to think of it, it was actually SHE that pulled off the prank-happy antics on ME in her GOOD days…. But, ugh, that's not going to get my point across." He thought to himself.

"So… your sister was just as bad to you as Rick?" she asked.

"Maybe a little worse. She wasn't quite as restraint and uptight as Rick, so it caused a few problems. And the fights were DEFINITELY worse! I still remember all the damage left over whenever she and I went at it, and---- uh, putting all of those details aside, yeah, she was a nightmare in her own right. But looking back, I don't think she was that way just for the sake of being mean." Mitchel said.

Popuri paused for a moment.

She took a few steps away from Mitchel and found her composure.

"What is your sister like? Usually?" she asked in a firmer tone.

"Right, "typical" Gina…" Mitchel uttered aloud. "Well, Gina Blaze, the middle child of three siblings, also happens to be the most outgoing of us in her usual time. She wasn't really "popular" in school society standards, but her brand of quirkiness got her a a pretty diverse band of friends that all had the common tendency to approach me and call me cute whenever they came over. She was actually pretty cool and treated me like a really good friend most of the time... until she started growing up."

As Mitchel said this, she started recalling her early childhood with Rick. Despite the impression he was still the "nerdy" character she didn't quite understand at that time, the two of them used to be happy, inseparable pair.

"And then all of a sudden you started fighting a lot?" Popuri asked.

Mitchel nodded.

"It was a really confusing hardship from then on. I'd do one odd thing, and then she'd get at me like I committed the crime of the century. It sucked, and I started hating for more and more for it. Although, somewhere in the back of my mind, I've been wondering, _"What the hell happened to my cool big sister from before? Why did she become this irritable bitch of all of a sudden?"_ Though I thought that with much less profanity, because that's just how I rolled back then.

"Really?" Popuri answered back. "I guess Rick's been so mean to me for so long… that I thought he was always like that. It's hard to remember him being nice to me when he hasn't done it so much nowadays."

"Yeah, it sucks when the mind goes that far to adjust." Mitchel sighed. "Luckily, I had a bit of saving grace moment that kept my mind open, although I actually got angrier at her for realizing it at the moment, but at least I started understanding."

"So… what happened?" Popuri asked.

Mitchel grinned widely. "I'm glad you asked! Actually, this story could take a while because I tend to over describe events. In the mean time, why don't you sit yourself down so your legs won't get restless?"

Popuri nodded. She quickly spotted a stool, and placed it in a distance convenient for listening.

"Anyway, before I get started, let me explain what my sister looks like. Let's see, she has straight, long, jet black hair, the same color as mine, but she has these big violet eyes with long eyelashes. Her face is a little skinner than mine, and… um, she's about this high, while I was yay high." Mitchel said, as he held his "Gina" hand right up to his chin, while he held his "Childhood" hand near his waste.

"I have a feeling you were really cute as a boy." Popuri said cheerfully.

"Well, that's what my mom and my sister's friends said too, but thanks." Mitchel grinned.

"Anyway, my mom is part of this too, but I don't feel like going in depth with her description. Let's just say she's just a voice in this story."

"But why? I think it would be great to know about your mom, too!" Popuri cried.

"Um, I wasted enough time describing my sister. How about I tell you some other time? Besides, she's not all that important in this story." Mitchel reasoned.

"Okay…" Popuri fussed.

"Good. From I remember Gina usually wears practical, casual clothing. How about imagining her with a buttoned purple shirt and dark violet bell bottoms for the sake of this story? It would be better than picturing her with a nondescript clothing style." Mitchel suggested.

Popuri glared at him funny, but shrugged it off and became fully attentive.

"Alright. Ready when you are." Mitchel announced.

"I'm ready." Popuri said with a nod.

"Good, now it was about eight or nine years ago, but from what I recall…"

* * *

_It was an early afternoon, I believe. The sun was shining enough, and my sister was practicing piano._

She always looked she enjoyed herself as she played. I knew she was focused as well, but I could tell it was the kind of focus you have when you want to get into it.

_Anyway, I came along when she was playing a little medley. An okay one at that, but was fun to listen to. I waited awhile for her to end it, but I got a little restless and tapped her on the shoulder._

_No reaction._

_I figured she didn't feel it at first, so I did it a little harder. Although, maybe it was too hard…_

She went "AH!", then she turned towards me when she finally recovered. 

_"Uh, Mitch! What do you want right now?" she asked me in an exasperated tone._

_I was really looking forward to telling her about this new project, so I was trembling with anticipation at the time and held out and flexed my fingers excessively as I told her._

"_Gina! Gina! Come with me! I actually did it! I managed to understand how that Cartoon Maker program on the computer worked, and I finally made my very own cartoon! Oh, man it's so cool! Chicken Ninjas! Really cool Chicken Ninjas! I made them do flips, throw ninja stars, use ninja swords, use fire and ice, and all this really cool ninjutsu and stuff! Holy cow! And I made them fight all these evil snakes and weasels and a bunch of other animals! It's just… that… awesome! Come on, Gina! You gotta watch this with me!" I demanded._

_Yeah, for some reason, we tend to get over a fight for a few days before we go at it again. When I saw Gina started to get annoyed, I thought it was going to happen all over again._

_She gave a groan and looked at me wearily. _

"_Mitch, I just got through a ton homework today, so I'd really like to enjoy myself for a bit. Can you, like, come back and get me later when I'm ready?" she told me._

"_Come on! I'd really like to show you right now! It's really cool!" I insisted._

_Yeah, I guess I must've been REALLY proud of my work to try and pry my sister like that._

"_Honestly! Can you please be patient! I really wanna play here!" she told me again._

"_Oh, come on!!! It won't take too long! Honest!" I told her._

_My sister gave a really long sigh, and looked like she was about to tell me something, but then my Mom started yelling from way across the living room about two rooms back._

"_GINA! LAUNDRY! NOW!!!" her ominous, commanding voice roared._

_Gina started looking really fussy at that moment._

"_Ugh! But Mom---"_

"_NOW!" she ordered again._

_So then I became the spectator in a brief yelling contest. I saw how frustrated my sister was coming and started to see she had to put up with quite a bit of crap before I came into the picture. I was beginning to think I arrived just at the worst possible time to hang out for even, even if those times were far and few in a day._

_I was also left with some scary foreshadowing that my Mom can be a really big problem when she entrusts you with a lot of responsibility in the house, but that doesn't apply to me yet in this scenario._

_Moving on, seeing Gina like that wasn't the worst part of this for me…_

"_I HAVE TO GO WATCH MITCH'S CARTOON FIRST!" she argued in that same tired tone._

_I was confused at first. I mean, she basically told me to buzz off at first, but now she "wants" to see it? I couldn't exactly feel happy under the circumstances._

_We waited a few long moments, and Mom said nothing. When there's an empty period of yelling like that, and Option "B" is randomly thrown into the choice column, it usually means that Mom agreed. So Gina got up and prepared to follow me._

_But it didn't exactly help that she still looked at me with those "My little brother is a big pain" eyes and sighed again._

"_Fine, I'll see your cartoon. Let's go." She said in the most agitated voice I've ever heard from her without reaching a hostile tone._

_My heart sank at that moment. I really wanted her to watch my computer cartoon, but mostly to enjoy it. It just isn't in me to just brag and shove my accomplishments up someone's ass just to boost my ego, especially if it involves my family._

_So the both of us finally reached the computer room, and I started up the cartoon I made. And this is where it got really painful for me: She simply looked at the screen with glazed eyes, like she was about to pass out or die. Obviously, she wasn't enjoying it as much as I felt she would. I put all this effort into it just so that people could enjoy it, but I ended up ruining the purpose by forcing her into it._

_It just… really sucked to see her like that._

_After having to sit through the most disappointing premiere I have ever been through, Gina simply got up and slumped to the laundry room for her next job._

"_Uh… h-how was it?" I asked._

_I had no idea exactly why I asked that. Maybe it was a force of habit for me._

"_It…it was great." She answered me in an enthusiastic voice._

"_Are you sure?…Where you even paying attention?" I asked._

_Despite the firmness of my voice, part of me was really nervous._

"_Really… it was great." She told me again, without even trying all that hard to sound reassuring._

_A few moments of silence passed between us, and then she just continued slumping away._

_I just stared at her silently._

_I remember that most situations would just end up with us fighting over the whole thing with a very nasty ending, but I couldn't imagine it could ever feel this worse actually getting my way. It was…actually very heartbreaking…"_

* * *

Popuri looked at the storyteller silently. She wasn't terribly emotional, but a few tears did stream from her eyes. 

"The funny thing is, we continued fighting like this, and tensions just got worse and worse until she finally headed off to college to catch her breath. But thinking back at those moments sometimes really made me questioned why we fought at times. I'm glad nowadays we can get along when we get together like that, but I felt that having to be separated from her with a bad impression like that left me a little disoriented and detached to her. I just wish… that a lot of those fights never even happened." He concluded.

Popuri started clutching her chest with one happen.

"Do you think the same thing like that might happen between me and Rick?" she asked in concern.

Mitchel grinned. "Ah, so you see? You still care about your brother!" he pointed out.

Popuri gulped upon hearing this, then let out a light chuckle.

"I don't know what exact advice to give you. I can maybe try and help moderate the situation by talking to Comrade Rick about this, but it'll only work if you two are willing to work it out. So what I suggest for now is to really try to understand your brother's position. You might be able to sympathize with him and avoid a few fights that way." Mitchel said.

"I see… I guess Rick does really do a lot of work around here… maybe he… just tells me to stay out so I don't get hurt. Maybe he's always being mean like that because he's stressed… kinda like how your sister Gina sounded…" she assumed.

"Well, yeah! Of course the whole "being worked like a dog" thing would put people on edge!" Mitchel agreed. "But that's not the real issue here! The real reason our older siblings were emotional messes was because of growth hormones, damn it!!!"

The overzealous young man then took a few steps back and started shaking his fist at the air while Popuri glared at him again.

"Don't you get it?! Growth Hormones are the ultimate evil! It's the source of stupid Teen Melodrama angst and frikin' annoying Emohood! Hell, it's also what spawns sick sex thoughts in our minds, and what make some of the more vulnerable ones write horrid trashy romance novels!!! And don't get me started on those kinds of writers! You know what I think of them and all their romantic make out "Love Conquers All" crap?! I say---"

"Mitchel, please calm down! I get it!" Popuri cried nervously as she got up tried to restrain him.

"Oh, right, sorry. Guess I got a little carried away there…" Mitchel replied while rubbing his head in embarrassment.

The pink-haired maiden slowly lowered her head and brought her hands together at her waste.

"Umm… and, thank you. Really. Your sister seemed really nice when you first told me about her. Maybe there's a chance I can be like that with Rick someday..." she confessed nervously.

"Oh, no problem! I just didn't want to see another sibling relationship going down the path of crashing and burning!" Mitchel answered casually.

"By the way…" Popuri started. She started fiddling with her fingers as she tried to get out the rest of her words. "I don't really get why everyone's saying you love Ann and everything, especially when I see you get along with Mary so well. I always see you head to the library in the morning, and I can tell by the way you talk about her that she's… well, a really special friend to you. I want to know… are you… in love with her?" she asked anxiously.

Mitchel gulped and laughed nervously.

"Uh, well… um, I'm really thankful that you didn't go down the road of idiocy and went with the crowd!" he said in a cracked voice.

He took a moment to clear his voice before he continued.

"But to answer your question: No. I mean, she IS a good friend and all… well, to be honest, I was actually interested in girls like her before, but, uh… I don't think all that intimately towards Mary for some reason, and she's already had her heart set on someone else to begin with! So with that going on, I'm trying my best to support her in her love life! She may not be my lover, but she certainly deserves a special someone!" he answered.

"Oh, alright." She answered quietly. She then turned so that her back faced Mitchel. "So then… is there someone that you ARE interested in?"

Mitchel took a moment and thought for a moment, and it didn't take too long to reach a conclusion.

"Nope, not that I can say. I'm still looking a potential girl despite being against the romantic scene. Heck, at least I'm not being set up." He replied.

Popuri nodded to herself.

"Thank you for telling me that." She said in an unusually meek tone.

"Oh, no problem!" Mitchel grinned. "Anyway, I should get going now and follow my schedule. I'll come back at around 11:00, and maybe after getting my bird feed, we can go have fun somewhere, okay?"

"Sure." Popuri cheered.

"Good. Well, see ya for now, Popuri! Let's hope the day has something really cool planned for us!" he announced before running out the door.

"Bye, Mitchel!" Popuri cried aloud as she rushed towards the door and waved towards him.

"Popuri…" a soft voice called from behind.

The pink-haired girl turned around and saw her mother. Like her daughter, she had fluffy pink hair, but it is partially tied up by a blue ribbon. She wore a long white apron over a puffy red shirt and long blue dress.

"I heard that you and Rick had another fight, and I think it would really do some good to go back upstairs and apologize to your brother." She requested in a very hopeful voice.

Popuri glanced into space for a moment and recalled the story Mitchel told him a short while ago, then gave a simple nod to herself.

"Okay, Mom. I'll do just that." She said in a soft, sincere tone.

Popuri then headed upstairs with a sweet grin.

At the same time, Lillia watched her daughter walk upstairs with a curious gaze.

"Huh. I wonder what got into her?" She uttered to herself.


End file.
